The Trouble With Dog Owners …

March 4, 2014

Apparently, during today’s walk, all 23 pounds of unbridled enthusiasm that is my dog was too much for the owner of the poodle-mix that lives down the street. Even though Cooper was sitting patiently as the dog approached on the sidewalk, the owner forced her dog to make a wide arc around him.

Needless to say, I was perplexed.

Of course, Cooper being Cooper, he did nothing to cement a positive opinion of himself. When he realized that he wasn’t going to get to meet the other pup, he decided he needed to voice his displeasure with barks and growls as he lunged toward the other dog’s path.

Shrugging it off, I redirected him down the road. When we reached the other side of the park, Cooper got the chance to redeem himself. Another dog was on the sidewalk ahead of us and she kept lying down, refusing to leave because she realized that we were headed her way. When I saw her, I made Cooper sit and patiently wait for a moment — giving the other owner one more chance to move his massive dog if he was at all concerned — before letting my little ball of enthusiasm leap forward.

As we approached, I had to assure the other owner that Cooper was friendly. He let me know that Cooper’s attentiveness toward other dogs appeared “aggressive” because he puffed out his chest even as he was sitting (did I mention Cooper’s 23 pounds???).

His dog, however, didn’t agree with his assessment. Her tail started making wide, inviting sweeps through the air the moment they touched noses. Cooper reciprocated by wagging his own tail as they happily sniffed each other. Even though the head of the blue pitbull before us was almost as wide as Cooper’s body is long (her owner said she didn’t get the chance to meet many other dogs because people steered clear of her), neither were afraid or timid or interpreted the actions of the other as aggressive in anyway.

It really was funny, good dogs with their masters in the seats, enjoying a day in the ballpark, and other dogs up top in the concourse, strutting their stuff from table to table. I hope the Syracuse Chiefs do it again this year. Cooper can be a baseball fan if a team near you adopts doggie day.

Cute story, cute dog! In defense of the poodle owner, she might have been giving you a wide berth because of known behavior problems in her own dog, not Cooper. My yellow lab, although friendly, has terrible on-leash manners/barrier frustration problems. She’s a rescue and we’re working with a trainer, but she is a work in progress and for the foreseeable future we have to steer her around other dogs, even if it appears outwardly unsociable. 🙂

Oh yes, I thought that might be the case at first. Cooper used to have his leash aggression/frustration issues. In fact, that’s why he barked and growled at the dog when he realized he wasn’t going to get to say hello. This time, though, I think it was the owner who was being anti-social because her dog walked perfectly on the leash, even when she decided to steer clear of us.

I always steer clear of other dogs because I’m afraid, but Tovah wants to walk straight up to them. You are brave to be like Tovah and lucky you don’t have a negative nellie like me by your side saying, “no julie, this isn’t a good idea…”